The present invention relates to the field of lasers. More particularly, the present invention relates to laser diode bars.
A laser diode bar of the prior art is illustrated in FIG. 1. The laser diode bar 2 includes a plurality of light emitting surfaces 4. The plurality of light emitting surfaces 4 each emit a laser beam 6. The plurality of light emitting surfaces form a linear array. The laser beams 6 combine to form a light output 8. Each laser beam is located on a center 10. The centers 10 are located on a pitch 12 and lie in a plane.
A laser diode bar has an upper limit on power output. Hawkes et al. in xe2x80x9cLasers Theory and Practice,xe2x80x9d pages 407 and 408, teach that linear arrays of laser diodes can be stacked in order to produce higher output. In some applications it would be advantageous to increase the power output while maintaining the centers of the laser beams in a common plane.
What is needed is a method of combining light output from multiple laser diode bars while placing the centers of the laser beams in a common plane.
This invention is a method and apparatus for combining light output from multiple laser diode bars. The apparatus includes two laser diode bars and a mirror arrangement placed between the laser diode bars. The mirror arrangement reflects the light output from the laser diode bars into a preferred plane and a preferred direction. The mirror arrangement is preferably comprised of metal mirrors. Alternative mirror arrangements are based on prisms. An alternative mirror includes a cylindrically concave surface for collimating or focusing an individual laser beam.